[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 230 (Thursday, November 30, 1995)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 61487-61490]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-29227]
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NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION SAFETY BOARD
49 CFR Part 800
Organization and Functions of the Board and Delegations of
Authority
AGENCY: National Transportation Safety Board.
ACTION: Final rules.
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SUMMARY: The Board is updating various organizational rules to reflect
current operations.
EFFECTIVE DATE: January 2, 1996.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jane F. Mackall, (202) 382-6540.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The current rules, at 49 CFR Part 800, have
not been updated since June 27, 1984. The changes adopted here reflect
the current functioning of the various offices at the Board. Because
these rule
[[Page 61488]]
changes affect only internal ``rules of agency organization procedure
or practice,'' notice and comment procedures are not required and are
not provided here. 5 U.S.C. 553(b)(B).
List of Subjects in 49 CFR Part 800
Authority delegations (Government agencies), Organization and
functions (Government agencies).
Organization and Functions of the Board and Delegations of
Authority
1. The Authority citation for Part 800 continues to read as
follows:
Authority: Independent Safety Board Act of 1974, as amended (49
U.S.C. 1101 et seq.); Federal Aviation Act of 1958, as amended (49
U.S.C. 40101 et seq.).
2. Section 800.2 is revised to read as follows:
Sec. 800.2 Organization.
The Board consists of five Members appointed by the President with
the advice and consent of the Senate. One of the Members is designated
by the President as Chairman with the advice and consent of the Senate,
and one was Vice Chairman. The Members exercise various functions,
powers and duties set forth in Titles VI and VII of the Federal
Aviation Act of 1958 (49 U.S.C. 44101-46501), and the Independent
Safety Board Act of 1974 (88 Stat. 2166 et seq. (49 U.S.C. 1101 et
seq.)). The Board is an independent agency of the United States. A
detailed description of the Board and its components is published in
the Board's internal orders, which are available for inspection and
copying in the public reference room in the Washington office of the
Board. Various special delegations of authority from the Board and the
Chairman to the staff are set forth in Subpart B of this part. The
Board's staff is comprised of the following principal components:
(a) The Office of the Managing Director, which assists the Chairman
in the discharge of his functions as executive and administrative head
of the Board; coordinates and directs the activities of the staff; is
responsible for the day-to-day operation of the Board; and recommends
and develops plans to achieve the Board's program objectives. The
Office of the Managing Director also provides executive secretariat
services to the Board.
(b) The Office of Public Affairs, which supplies the public, the
transportation industry and the news media, with current, accurate
information concerning the work, programs, and objectives of the Board.
(c) The Office of Government Affairs, which supplies the Congress
and Federal, State and local government agencies with information
regarding the Safety Board's activities, programs and objectives.
(d) The Office of the General Counsel, which provides legal advice
and assistance to the Board and its staff components; prepares Board
rules, opinions and/or orders, and advice to all offices and bureaus on
matters of legal significance; and represents the Board in court
actions to which the Board is a party or in which the Board is
interested.
(e) The Office of Administrative Law Judges, which conducts all
formal proceedings arising under the Federal Aviation Act of 1958, as
amended, including proceedings involving civil penalties and suspension
or revocation of certificates, and appeals from actions of the
Administrator in refusing to issue airman certificates.
(f) The Office of Aviation Safety, which conducts investigations of
all aviation accidents within the Board's jurisdiction; prepares
reports for submission to the Board and release to the public setting
forth the facts and circumstances of such accidents, including a
recommendation as to the probable cause(s); determines the probable
cause(s) of accidents when delegated authority to do so by the Board;
initiates safety recommendations to prevent future aviation accidents;
participates in the investigation of accidents that occur in foreign
countries and involve U.S.-registered and/or U.S.-manufactured
aircraft; and conducts special investigations into selected aviation
accidents involving safety issues of concern to the Board.
(g) The Office of Surface Transportation Safety, which conducts
investigations of highway, railroad, pipeline, and marine accidents
within the Board's jurisdiction; prepares reports for submission to the
Board and release to the public setting forth the facts and
circumstances of such accidents, including a recommendation as to the
probable cause(s); determines the probable cause(s) of accidents when
delegated authority to do so by the Board; initiates safety
recommendations to prevent future surface transportation accidents;
participates in the investigation of accidents that occur in foreign
countries and involve U.S.-registered vessels; and conducts special
investigations into selected surface accidents involving safety issues
of concern to the Board.
(h) The Office of Safety Recommendations, which oversees the
Board's safety recommendations program, including the Board's ``MOST
WANTED'' recommendations.
(i) The Office of Research and Engineering, which provides
technical advice and services; conducts research and carries out
analytical studies and tests on all aspects of the Board's accident
investigation, accident prevention and safety promotion activities;
conducts safety studies of specific safety issues; performs statistical
analyses of transportation accident and incident data; maintains
archival records of the Board's accident investigation and safety
promotion activities and supports public access to these records; and
supports the Board's data processing, computing and information
management requirements.
(j) The Office of Administration, which provides administrative
support for the Board in the following areas: budget, accounting and
audit; personnel, training and payroll; information management and
automatic data processing; property, space, communications, facilities
and transportation management; and printing, publications, mail,
procurement, contracting, and accident inquiry services.
3. Section 800.3 is revised to read as follows:
Sec. 800.3 Functions.
(a) The primary function of the Board is to promote safety in
transportation. The Board is responsible for the investigation,
determination of facts, conditions, and circumstances and the cause or
probable cause or causes of: all accidents involving civil aircraft,
and certain public aircraft; highway accidents, including railroad
grade-crossing accidents, the investigation of which is selected in
cooperation with the States; railroad accidents in which there is a
fatality, substantial property damage, or which involve a passenger
train; pipeline accidents in which there is a fatality, significant
injury to the environment, or substantial property damage; and major
marine casualties and marine accidents involving a public and a non-
public vessel or involving Coast Guard functions. The Board makes
transportation safety recommendations to Federal, State, and local
agencies and private organizations to reduce the likelihood of
recurrences of transportation accidents. It initiates and conducts
safety studies and special investigations on matters pertaining to
safety in transportation, assesses techniques and methods of accident
investigation, evaluates the effectiveness of transportation safety
consciousness and efficacy in preventing accidents of other Government
agencies, and evaluates the adequacy of safeguards
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and procedures concerning the transportation of hazardous materials.
(b) Upon application of affected parties, the Board reviews in
quasijudicial proceedings, conducted pursuant to the provisions of the
Administrative Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C. 551 et seq., denials by the
Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administrator of applications for
airman certificates and orders of the Administrator modifying,
amending, suspending, or revoking certificates or imposing civil
penalties. The Board also reviews on appeal the decisions of the
Commandant, U.S. Coast Guard, on appeals from orders of administrative
law judges suspending, revoking, or denying seamen licenses,
certificates, or documents.
(c) The Board, as provided in Part 801 of this chapter, issues
reports and orders pursuant to its duties to determine the cause or
probable cause or causes of transportation accidents and to report the
facts, conditions and circumstances relating to such accidents; issues
opinions and/or orders after reviewing on appeal the imposition of a
civil penalty or the suspension, amendment, modification, revocation,
or denial of any certificate or license issued by the Secretary of the
Department of Transportation (who acts through the Administrator of the
Federal Aviation Administration or the Commandant of the United States
Coast Guard); and issues and makes available to the public safety
recommendations, safety studies, and reports of special investigations.
4. Section 800.4 is amended by revising paragraph (a) to read as
follows:
Sec. 800.4 Operation.
* * * * *
(a) The Board's staff, consisting of specialized offices dealing
with particular areas of transportation safety and performing
administrative and technical work for the Board. The staff advises the
Board and performs duties for the Board that are inherent in the
staff's position in the organizational structure or that the Board has
delegated to it. The staff is described more fully in Sec. 800.2.
* * * * *
5. Section 800.5 is revised to read as follows:
Sec. 800.5 Office locations.
The principal offices of the National Transportation Safety Board
are located at 490 L'Enfant Plaza East, SW., Washington, DC 20594. The
Board maintains field offices in selected cities throughout the United
States.
6. Section 800.21 is revised to read as follows:
Sec. 800.21 Purpose.
The purpose of this Subpart B is to publish special delegations of
authority to staff members.
7. Section 800.22 is revised to read as follows:
Sec. 800.22 Delegation to the Managing Director.
(a) The Board delegates to the Managing Director the authority to:
(1) Make the final determination, on appeal, as to whether to
withhold a Board record from inspection or copying, pursuant to Part
801 of this chapter.
(2) Approve for publication in the Federal Register notices
concerning issuance of accident reports and safety recommendations and
responses to safety recommendations, as required by sections 304(a)(2)
and 307 of the Independent Safety Board Act of 1974 (49 U.S.C. 1131(d)
and 1135(c)).
(b) The Chairman delegates to the Managing Director the authority
to exercise and carry out, subject to the direction and supervision of
the Chairman, the following functions vested in the Chairman:
(1) The appointment and supervision of personnel employed by the
Board;
(2) The distribution of business among such personnel and among
organizational components of the Board; and
(3) The use and expenditure of funds.
8. Section 800.23 is revised to read as follows:
Sec. 800.23 Delegation to the administrative law judges, Office of
Administrative Law Judges.
The Board delegates to the administrative law judges the authority
generally detailed in its procedural regulations at Part 821 of this
chapter.
9. Section 800.24 is revised to read as follows:
Sec. 800.24 Delegation to the General Counsel.
The Board delegates to the General Counsel the authority to:
(a) Approve, disapprove, request more information, or otherwise
handle requests for testimony of Board employees with respect to their
participation in the investigation of accidents, and, upon receipt of
notice that an employee has been subpoenaed, to make arrangements with
the court either to have the employee excused from testifying or to
give the employee permission to testify in accordance with the
provisions of Part 835 of this Chapter.
(b) Approve or disapprove in safety enforcement proceedings, for
good cause shown, requests for extensions of time or for other changes
in procedural requirements subsequent to the initial decision, grant or
deny requests to file additional and/or amicus briefs pursuant to
Secs. 821.9 and 821.48 of this Chapter, and raise on appeal any issue
the resolution of which he deems important to the proper disposition of
proceedings under Sec. 821.49 of this Chapter.
(c) Approve or disapprove, for good cause shown, requests to extend
the time for filing comments on proposed new or amended regulations.
(d) Issue regulations for the purpose of making editorial changes
or corrections in the Board's rules and regulations.
(e) Issue orders staying or declining to stay, pending judicial
review, orders of the Board suspending or revoking certificates, and
consent to the entry of judicial stays with respect to such orders.
(f) Compromise civil penalties in the case of violations arising
under The Independent Safety Board Act of 1974, as amended, or any
rule, regulation, or order issued thereunder.
(g) Issue orders dismissing appeals from initial decisions of Board
administrative law judges pursuant to the request of the appellant or,
where the request is consensual, at the request of any party.
(h) Correct Board orders by eliminating typographical, grammatical,
and similar errors, and make editorial changes therein not involving
matters of substance.
(i) Take such action as appropriate or necessary adequately to
compromise, settle, or otherwise represent the Board's interest in
judicial or administrative actions to which the Board is a party or in
which the Board is interested.
10. Section 800.25 is revised to read as follows:
Sec. 800.25 Delegation to the Directors of Office of Aviation Safety
and Office of Surface Transportation.
The Board delegates to the Directors, Office of Aviation and Office
of Surface Transportation, the authority to:
(a) Order an investigation into the facts, conditions, and
circumstances of accidents that the Board has authority to investigate.
(b) Disclose factual information pertinent to all accidents or
incidents as provided for in Part 801 of this chapter.
(c) Determine the probable cause(s) of accidents in which the
determination is issued in the ``Brief of Accident'' format, except
that the Office Director will submit the findings of the accident
investigation to the Board for
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determination of the probable cause(s) when (1) any Board Member so
requests, (2) it appears to the Office Director that, because of
significant public interest, a policy issue, or a safety issue of other
matter, the determination of the probable cause(s) should be made by
the Board, or (3) the accident investigation will be used to support
findings in a special investigation or study. Provided, that a petition
for reconsideration or modification of a determination of the probable
cause(s) made under Sec. 845.41 of this Chapter shall be acted on by
the Board.
(d) Consistent with Board resources, investigate accidents as
provided under Sec. 304(a) of the Independent Safety Board Act of 1974,
as amended (49 U.S.C. 1131(a)) and the Appendix to this Part.
11. Section 800.26 is revised to read as follows:
Sec. 800.26 Delegation to the Director, Office of Administration.
The Board delegates to the Director, Office of Administration, the
authority to:
(a) Determine, initially, the withholding of a Board record from
inspection or copying, pursuant to Part 801 of this Chapter.
(b) Settle claims for money damages of $2,500 or less against the
United States arising under Section 2672 of 28 United States Code (the
Federal Tort Claims Act) because of acts or omissions of Board
employees.
12. Section 800.27 is revised to read as follows:
Sec. 800.27 Delegation to investigative officers and employees of the
Board.
The Board delegates to any officer or employee of the Board
designated by the Chairman of the Safety Board the authority to sign
and issue subpoenas, and administer oaths and affirmations, and to take
depositions or cause them to be taken in connection with the
investigation of transportation accidents or incidents.
Sec. 800.28 [Removed]
13. Section 800.28 is removed.
Issued in Washington, DC, this 27th day of November 1995.
Jim Hall,
Chairman.
[FR Doc. 95-29227 Filed 11-29-95; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7533-01-M
